Discussion Papers 2008.
Socio-Economic Analysis of the Carpathian Area
CENTRE FOR REGIONAL STUDIES
OF HUNGARIAN ACADEMY OF SCIENCES
DISCUSSION PAPERS
Special
Socio-Economic Analysis
of the Carpathian Area
Editors
Zoltán Gál – Szilárd Rácz
Series editor
Zoltán Gál
Pécs
2008
Discussion Papers 2008.
Socio-Economic Analysis of the Carpathian Area
Project co-financed by the EU
Authors
Ferenc Erdősi DSc (chapter 9)
István Fodor DSc (chapter 4)
Zoltán Gál PhD (chapter 15)
Wiktor Glowacki (chapter 5)
Zoltán Hajdú DSc (chapter 2, 3)
László Hrubi (chapter 11)
Iván Illés DSc (chapter 1, 10)
Lukasz Kotula (chapter 5)
Teréz Kovács PhD (chapter 13)
Kinga Kuczynska (chapter 5)
Gábor Lux (chapter 12)
Péter Póla PhD (chapter 6, 7, 8)
Szilárd Rácz (chapter 5)
Zoltán Raffay PhD (chapter 14)
ISSN 0238–2008
ISBN 978 963 9899 00 01
2008 by Centre for Regional Studies of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences.
Technical editor: Ilona Csapó.
Printed in Hungary by Sümegi Nyomdaipari, Kereskedelmi és Szolgáltató Ltd., Pécs
Discussion Papers 2008.
Socio-Economic Analysis of the Carpathian Area
CONTENT
1 Introduction – The Carpathians: a European macroregion ........................................... 9
1.1 Physical geographic features ................................................................................ 9
1.2 The analysed area ............................................................................................... 10
1.3 Demography ....................................................................................................... 10
1.4 Ethnic and religious affiliations .......................................................................... 16
1.5 Employment ....................................................................................................... 18
2 General determinations of the Carpathians project area: geographical location,
spatial structure, borders ............................................................................................. 21
2.1 Introduction ........................................................................................................ 21
2.2 The Carpathians .................................................................................................. 21
2.3 The Carpathian Convention ................................................................................ 22
2.4 The Carpathians project space ............................................................................ 23
3 Historical
geographical
features of the project space ................................................. 27
3.1 Spatial constituents and consequences of the long-term historical
processes ............................................................................................................. 27
3.2 Spatial processes of the project region in the time of modernisation ................. 30
4 Environmental management, risk prevention, natural and cultural heritage in
the Carpathian area ..................................................................................................... 33
4.1 Water management, water pollution and flood control ....................................... 33
4.1.1 Water
pollution ......................................................................................... 35
4.1.2 Flood and flood control ............................................................................ 36
4.2 The hazards of deforestation ................................................................................ 37
4.2.1 Soil
degradation, erosion .......................................................................... 38
4.3 The potential impacts of climate change ............................................................. 39
4.4 Air pollution ........................................................................................................ 40
4.5 The environmental impacts of Carpathian industries, transport and
agriculture ............................................................................................................ 41
4.6 Nature conservation in the Carpathian area ......................................................... 42
4.7 National parks in the Carpathian area .................................................................. 44
5 Carpathian
settlement structure .................................................................................. 45
5.1 Austria
................................................................................................................
45
5.2 Czech Republic ................................................................................................... 50
5.3 Hungary .............................................................................................................. 52
5.4 Poland ................................................................................................................. 53
5.5 Romania .............................................................................................................. 54
5.6 Serbia
..................................................................................................................
56
5.7 Slovakia .............................................................................................................. 57
5.8 Ukraine ............................................................................................................... 58
5.9 Conclusions ........................................................................................................ 60
Discussion Papers 2008.
Socio-Economic Analysis of the Carpathian Area
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6 The demographic features of the Carpathian region ................................................... 62
7 Education and employment in the Carpathian region ................................................. 68
8 Employment,
unemployment ..................................................................................... 71
9 Transport in the Carpathians ...................................................................................... 77
9.1 The evolution of the transport network .............................................................. 77
9.2 The current situation of transport ....................................................................... 83
9.3 The major problems of transport in the Carpathian region, weaknesses
and alternatives for their solution ....................................................................... 85
9.3.1 Side-roads
in
peripheries ......................................................................... 85
9.3.2 Regional
traffic ........................................................................................ 87
9.3.3 Interregional traffic ................................................................................. 87
9.3.4 International
(cross-border) traffic .......................................................... 87
10 Border crossing in the Carpathian area ....................................................................... 90
11 The general economic position of the Carpathian region ........................................... 94
11.1 Historical background, current processes ........................................................... 94
11.2 The region’s socio-economic position ................................................................ 98
11.3 The internal structure of the economic development and employment
level of the Carpathian region .......................................................................... 105
12 Industry in the Carpathian area ................................................................................. 111
12.1 Industrial typology of the Carpathian regions .................................................. 111
12.2 The changing spatial structure of industry in the Carpathian area .................... 114
13 Agriculture in the Carpathian region ........................................................................ 117
13.1 The relationship between employment of active wage earners and
agricultural farmers .......................................................................................... 117
13.1.1 Austria ................................................................................................... 117
13.1.2 Czech Republic ..................................................................................... 119
13.1.3 Hungary ................................................................................................. 119
13.1.4 Poland .................................................................................................... 120
13.1.5 Romania ................................................................................................ 121
13.1.6 Serbia .................................................................................................... 122
13.1.7 Slovakia ................................................................................................. 122
13.1.8 Ukraine .................................................................................................. 123
13.1.9 Summary ............................................................................................... 123
13.2 Land use structure ............................................................................................. 124
13.2.1 Austria ................................................................................................... 124
13.2.2 Czech Republic ..................................................................................... 125
13.2.3 Hungary ................................................................................................. 127
13.2.4 Poland .................................................................................................... 127
13.2.5 Romania ................................................................................................ 130
13.2.6 Serbia .................................................................................................... 130
13.2.7 Slovakia ................................................................................................. 130
13.2.8 Ukraine .................................................................................................. 130
Discussion Papers 2008.
Socio-Economic Analysis of the Carpathian Area
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14 The approach to tourism and natural/cultural heritage in the Carpathians region .... 134
14.1 Tourism ............................................................................................................ 134
14.1.1 General features of the tourism endowments in the cooperation area ... 137
14.1.2 Basic tourism endowments of the respective countries of the
Carpathian regions ................................................................................. 138
14.2 Heritage sites in the Carpathians area ............................................................... 145
14.2.1 Culture as a driving force of economic development ............................ 145
14.2.2 Heritage sites in the Carpathian’s area .................................................. 146
15 Research and development (R&D) activity in the Carpathian area .......................... 149
15.1 Introduction ...................................................................................................... 149
15.2 The economic significance of innovation in the transition economies
of the Carpathian area ....................................................................................... 149
15.3 The regional structure of R&D ......................................................................... 154
15.4 Conclusion ........................................................................................................ 162
References ...................................................................................................................... 164
Discussion Papers 2008.
Socio-Economic Analysis of the Carpathian Area
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List of figures
Figure 1 Map of the Carpathian development region ................................................... 11
Figure 2 The age structure of population in the member regions of the
Carpathian region (2004) ............................................................................... 63
Figure 3 Employed persons (1000) by economic sectors in NUTS2 regions
(2005) ............................................................................................................. 74
Figure 4 The ratio of employed persons in the Carpathian region, % (2004) ............... 75
Figure 5 Unemployment rates by sex (2005) ............................................................... 76
Figure 6 Railway lines passing the country borders of the Carpathian region
(2004) ............................................................................................................. 88
Figure 7 Cross-border car traffic through Hungary (2004) .......................................... 89
Figure 8 GDP per head (PPS, EU27=100) in 2004 ...................................................... 99
Figure 9 GDP per head (PPS) by country and regional extremes (2004) ................... 100
Figure 10 Unemployment rates, % of labour force (2005) ........................................... 104
Figure 11 Industrial employment, % of total (2004) .................................................... 115
Figure 12 The ratio of persons employed in agriculture in the Carpathian region,
% of total (2004) .......................................................................................... 118
Figure 13 The land areas by land use in Carpathian regions (2004) ............................ 125
Figure 14 The World Cultural Heritage Sites of the Carpathians ................................. 147
List of tables
Table 1
Main indicators of the Carpathian area (2004) ............................................... 12
Table 2
The highest and lowest birth rates in the Carpathian area (2004) .................. 13
Table 3
The highest and lowest death rates in the Carpathian area (2004) ................. 13
Table 4
The highest natural increase and decrease in the Carpathian area (2004) ...... 14
Table 5
The largest net migration in the Carpathian area (2000–2004) ...................... 15
Table 6
The 10 NUTS3 regions with the highest unemployment rates in the
Carpathian area (2004) ................................................................................... 18
Table 7
The 10 NUTS2 regions with the lowest activity rates of the 15–64 years
old population (2004) ..................................................................................... 19
Table 8
Regional specialization in the Carpathian area (2004) ................................... 20
Table 9
Overview of the subdivision of the Carpathians into rivers basins and
their characteristics (2006) ............................................................................. 34
Table 10 Large-scale protected area types in the Carpathians
(Alpine Network for Protected Areas, 2004) ................................................. 43
Table 11 Overview of the number and total area of the Ramsar regions in the
Carpathian countries ...................................................................................... 43
Table 12 Overview of the IBA in the contract states of the CC (Birdlife
International, 2005) ........................................................................................ 44
Discussion Papers 2008.
Socio-Economic Analysis of the Carpathian Area
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Table 13 General characteristic of Carpathian settlements ........................................... 46
Table 14 The age structure of the research area (2004) ................................................ 62
Table 15 Main demographic indicators of the Carpathian area (2004) ......................... 65
Table 16 Education level in the Carpathian area (2004) ............................................... 69
Table 17 Activity rates in the regions of our research area (2005) ............................... 72
Table 18 Road border-crossings (2005) ........................................................................ 91
Table 19 Rail border-crossings (2005) .......................................................................... 93
Table 20 GDP per capita (PPS) in percentage of the EU25 average in Carpathian
region (2004) ................................................................................................ 107
Table 21 GDP per capita in euro in Carpathian region (2004) .................................... 108
Table 22 Unemployment rate (15 years and over) in Carpathian region (2005) ......... 110
Table 23 Industrial typology in Central Europe .......................................................... 112
Table 24 The number and ratio of total employed persons and employed persons
in agriculture in Austria (2004) .................................................................... 118
Table 25 The ratio of total employed persons and persons employed in
agriculture in the Czech Republic (2004) .................................................... 119
Table 26 The ratio of total employed persons and persons employed in
agriculture in Hungary (2004) ...................................................................... 120
Table 27 The ratio of total employed persons and persons employed in
agriculture in Poland (2004)......................................................................... 121
Table 28 The ratio of total employed persons and persons employed in
agriculture in Slovakia (2004) ...................................................................... 123
Table 29 The ratio of total employed and employed persons in agricultural sector
of Ukraine (2005) ........................................................................................ 124
Table 30 The structure of land use in Austria (2004) .................................................. 126
Table 31 The structure of land use in Czech Republic (2004) .................................... 126
Table 32 The structure of land use in Hungary (2004) ............................................... 128
Table 33 The structure of land use in Poland (2004) .................................................. 128
Table 34 The structure of land use in Romania (2003) ............................................... 131
Table 35 The structure of land use in Slovakia (2004) ............................................... 132
Table 36 The structure of land use in the Carpathians region of Ukraine (2007) ....... 133
Table 37 Total number of UNESCO world heritage sites in the countries of the
Carpathian area and number of world heritage sites in the respective
Carpathian regions in our survey ................................................................. 146
Table 38 Innovation performance in the selected countries of the Carpathian
area ............................................................................................................... 153
Table 39 Spatial concentration of R&D in selected countries (at least half of the
R&D employees can be found in the following agglomerations) ................ 156
Table 40 Territorial distribution of R&D expenditure figures in the Carpathian
regions (2004) .............................................................................................. 158